At this point I would pick Yoda with Lynam as his mini-yoda.
Sixers need to start over with a new, defensive-minded coach. Plain and simple. I wouldn`t mind McKie being an assistant coach, not sure about head coach.

I'm not normally big on Eskin but I thought he did a pretty good job. He wasn't lobbing softballs. He was asking some tough questions that had Stefanski trying to finesse things (such as bringing up they aren't even doing the PO in the first place, AI's success as various other teams, etc.)

Yeah, it was a very good interview, for the most part. I think, because AI is the topic of the day, and people think AI = Scoring, then the topic becomes offense, especially when EJ loves his PO.

That's being said, if a guy like Thibodeau were the coach, complimenting Stefanski's "Run, Run, Run so more" approach with a high-level defense, if you were to give me a team of a AI, AI, Thad, Brand Sam with Jrue, Carney, Kapono, Smith as backups and Lou and Speights as reinforcements waiting on the horizon, I'd take my chances this year.

If you add a great defensive mastermind to a team with that level of offensive talent, you could be a surprise team. As TK76 keeps pointing out, once Lou and M16 return, the Sixers will feature 6 guys who could get 20+(Lou, M16, AI, AI, EB & Thad). Going a little further, each of those guys could get you 30 efficiently, given the minutes + opportunity.

Beyond that, you have complimentary guys who can score in the teens feeding off the attention given to the scorers(Kapono, Carney, Smith, Sam, Green, Jrue). If you add a super defensive coach who can raise the team to a top-10 level that can get stops, that could be a potential darkhorse in the East.

"Going a little further, each of those guys could get you 30 efficiently, given the minutes + opportunity."

I'm always a little wary of claims like this. There are tons of players who theoretically could get 30 efficiently, but obviously only a handful who do more than very rarely. Even pointing out that we have a bunch of guys who have a good shot at dropping 20 on any given night is a little misleading. When I actually watch this offense, I generally see a lack of guys who are talented enough to make tough shots, or to easily create good shots. And so you see a lot of missed tough shots. I just don't know that combining a lot of solid second and third scorers can ever add up to a particularly good offense.

I cannot say that I agree with that, especially if everybody is healthy. You spoke about a team filled with 2nd & 3rd scorers, right? A team filled with 2nd scorers would be fine, mainly because no team features a team filled with solid one-on-one defenders. Every team has liabilities they are trying to mask. On those nights, the player with the best matchup can take advantage. If you play AI, AI, Thad, Brand & Sam, with Lou, Speights, & Jrue behind them, somebody has a bad matchup every single night against every single team.

This team struggles with this offense because they have guys who don't get the ball often in their attack zones. This team weaves around the perimeter for 10-15 seconds so often, not getting the ball inside the arc until the shot clock runs down, leaving guys like Iguodala to take jumpers against stacked defenses.

I'd argue EB has touched the ball at the arc more than he has in the post this season. Thad needs to play SF and get posted in the mid-post and low-block regularly. Iguodala needs to be on the block 10+ times a game. Lou, Jrue and both AIs can play screen/roll with EB, Smith & Speights. Sam, too. Add some back screens on the weak side, this team as presently constructed does not need much structure. Just attack the weak matchup and flow from there. Basic ball. Everybody else gets theirs playing off the hot hand, hustle points and in transition. Offense would not be an issue.

I think the problem was, they were so poor at half-court offense last year they hired an offensive-minded coach to fix this. We all thought, oh well they are naturally a decent defensive team so this should go together well. Most people didn`t realize just how much an offensive-minded coach like Jordan can screw up their defensive. Also, they need more guys on the team who can rebound rather than guys who `go after it.`
If they hire a defensive coach, they either need a guy who can create off the dribble (sorry, Iguodala) or a really good PG.

Well, Jrue handles the PG spot. He can handle and shoot it well enough. The team needs somebody with a flexible approach who can identify each primary scorer's attack spots and then make plays that take advantage of that with a couple of counters built in.

The Princeton Offense sounds great, with its democratic offensive ideals, but for the same token, the various sets actually put our scorers in uncomfortable spots.

As far as defensive-minded vs offensive, I'd prefer defense with a capable offensive assistant. Phil Jackson fits the mold, being defensive-oriented while believing in a particular system that he has an assistant(Tex Winter) help to install. I prefer defense first, because I feel that players should lose or gain playing time primarily based on their defensive performance. That would be the reason I rate O'Brien over Jordan.

The crazy thing is that as much as I don't think it was a good call to sign AI, this team could actually be good with him... IF Eddie Jordan was fired and we brought in a coach who cares about defense. Iverson is successful when surrounded by a bunch of selfless players who are good defenders. Nobody on our team really has too much of an ego offensively (except Speights, but whatever, he's efficient), and they all are either good defenders, or could be good defenders (Thad), or don't really need to play (Lou, Willie). Of course, we could just have a good coach and play Lou, who is probably better than AI at this point anyway...

You know, all the time Elton Brand was hurt, I never could have imagined that he would return to form and not get minutes because the coach would rather play Bill Green. Who could have every predicted that?

Honestly, somebody needs to talk to Ed Stefanski. He's either going to be fired after the Sixers suck for three years under Eddie Jordan, or he can hire and new coach tomorrow and try to salvage his job and reputation.

I was tempted to use that line... but actually very good show. You guys cleaned up some of the technical stuff and less ummms but some more awkward dead spaces- which is really no big deal. Entertaining, even if it is all stuff we agree on. You really should get Dannie on becasue he's in the pro AI camp.

Trying to think of who you could get who falls into the pro EJ camp... still thinking.

Good call by Rob. Worked into the conversation well.

BTW, dream guest would be Sir Charles. But maybe aim lower and try and get either Coach Carter or World B Free. I'd say ask the Sixers for help, but I don't think they will answer your calls... and might go after any use of the term Sixers unless you start taking a softer line.

Jonathan and Reina are foregone conclusions that I can get. I talk to Jonathan Givony literally almost every day in some form.

Probably time to start asking Mike Preston if we can get anyone. We wanted to get a show or two under our belt before we did so (because we figured we'd run into a few technical difficulties), but with the way we've been going on about Ed and Eddie, we might be given the cold shoulder. I definitely felt stronger about our chances of getting some guests directly affiliated with the Sixers before the last two weeks.

I have thought about the name of the show. I fear it may have to get changed. We'll see. They haven't come down on any blogs in the past (sixers4guidos, and they've definitely known about them).

There were some technical gotchas this time around, just different. That awkward beginning to the show? Brian was having some difficulties joining, which we were tryign to work through. But there's no pause button on a live radio show, and I was a little distracted to begin. I actually had an opening scripted, but it ended up getting abandoned because of that.

Also, one technical gotcha I didn't realize last week because we didn't have any guests last time, if I'm called in as the host, there's an option to enter the "screening room", and let the guests come on and state what they'd like to talk about before going on the air. So I did that with rob, problem is once you do that you can't hear the actual radio show anymore. So as I'm talking to Rob, I'm just hoping that Brian hasn't stopped talking, because I have no idea. So Rob, I apologize if I cut you short, but I was panicking a bit. Then I went back to Rob (because he stayed on and we were going to get him back on), and I went into the screening room to talk to him a second time, and I got the next point he wanted to make, but he ended up dropping off a little after that.

so there were two different periods in the show for a minute + where I couldn't hear what Brian was saying, and I'm guessing some of the pauses were in there.

Also, the ending. I decided when we hit a certain minute point I'd start wrapping it up, because last time we ran over. So we stopped at the time I thought was appropriate, went through the preview for next week, and we had about 40 seconds left. I guess I should have some stuff ready to go over just in case. Stopping exactly at an hour is tough.

Next week at the minimum I'm going to call in with two phones, one to be on as the host, waiting in the screening room, and a second phone as the one I'm talking on. that way I can put myself at hold to talk to callers while still hearing what Brian's saying.

Still feeling things out. Give us 20 shows and maybe we'll have a passable show.

Do you think you might be able to parlay that into calling some national attention to Jordan's ineptness? Use the attention that AI has brought us to add that to the dialogue. Put some pressure on the team? Nobody seems to be asking the right questions

BTW, that crash was purely network related and outside of my control. Our hosting provider was a little unprepared on the amount of traffic we pushed through there.

(We also won't be there next year).

2 years ago when we were at our previous hosting provider my database work kept the site snappy all throughout the draft.

(But yeah, I do more at DraftExpress than just server work. I have access to all the scouting tape, I conduct interviews, including on the biggest night of the year, media day, and I watch oodles of tape and offer my opinion on player evals).

Most of the contacts I have from DraftExpress are either agents or players. I'm not sure how much pressure I can bring on by contacting Jonny Flynn or Henry Thomas (his agent with creative artists). My media contacts are, unfortunately, a little low.

Could you use the agents to get to the Media types? Some of those agents have a blackberry of friendly reporter types, Or see if you could get Fagan and/or Tom Moore as a call-in interview or something. That could work, too

Which is why it is good that the Sixers organization has given bloggers some access. I hope they understand that blogs as a way of venting frustration during losing streaks is not a bad thing. I'm already concerned when I hear about them trying to influence the beat writers access after they are critical.

I've tried to start sending some emails to beat writers, now I am expanding my scope to National NBA writers, seeing if I can start the conversation by prompting one to write a story that sparks the whole thing off. Might try hitting some of the Washington beat guys too.

Brian, after you posted that stuff about iverson and how he would make us worse and all that stuff i have to say i agreed with you 100%. But after watching that press conference today i am just so happy he is back. I feel like he is genuinely happy he is here and will somehow make it work. I also feel like he will help the young players out more than he will hurt them by taking minutes away. Bottom line is I love the signing and i can't wait to see him play. On another note, I have a question. I've been searching around the web for an answer and haven't found one yet so maybe you can help. Will the Sixers have any money at all to get any interest in a good free agent next season? I feel like if we can add someone to our roster who will make a difference we can get over that hump and be a contender in the eastern conference again.

I'm happy for Iverson and I sincerely hope this ends well. I still think it's a complete abortion on the court, but there are ways he can help the young guys. I'm not optimistic, but I am hopeful, if that makes any sense.

Good job on the show again guys. The points about the helter-skelter defense are right on. I'm going to try and pay attention to what exactly Jordan is teaching, besides just the over-helping. I literally have never seen a team invite so many open shots.

Eskin hates Iverson, wouldn't say his name (plus I think eskin is at least subconsciously, if not consciously, a racist) so it's no surprise he would go off on Stefanski about the Iverson signing, but mainly because of his hatred of Iverson.

Eskin is the epitome of what's wrong with Philadelphia sports fans, and his continued popularity sickens me.

"Eskin hates Iverson, wouldn't say his name (plus I think eskin is at least subconsciously, if not consciously, a racist) so it's no surprise he would go off on Stefanski about the Iverson signing, but mainly because of his hatred of Iverson.

Eskin is the epitome of what's wrong with Philadelphia sports fans, and his continued popularity sickens me."

That's not the point. The point wasn't that he went off, but that he did so in an intelligent basketball discussion kind of way. He really asked the tough questions, and my hatred for eskin aside I was impressed.

I think it was a bit of both. He started off asking the right questions, but the interview devolved as it went along with Eskin basically badgering him and making a speech rather than addressing the on-the-court issues, like how is Iverson going to help the team's horrible defense, etc.

I think if I had stopped listening before his stupid sidekick started gushing I would've thought it was a good interview, but Eskin kept trying to hammer the big picture things instead of getting into specifics and he eventually lost me.